Hey there. Today is book launch day. Hooray!
Can I be honest with you right now? I am pretty burned out. In a lot of ways and places, honestly. I will share more later. But for now, we celebrate the launch of this book.
The Wolf in Their Pockets IS AVAILABLE!
Release the wolf! (…or, don’t, probably.)
Below is a brief excerpt from the introduction to The Wolf in Their Pockets. My hope is that it is helpful for you.
It would mean the world to me if you would order a copy of the book today and maybe give it a rating/review once you read it on Amazon or Goodreads.
Faithful Leadership in Our Fractured Time
I don’t know you. I don’t know if you’re a pastor, a lay leader in a local church, a parent, or someone else entirely. I don’t know if you love social media or hate it. I don’t know if you deleted social media apps off your phone years ago or if you’re spending twice the average amount of time others spend on these platforms.
However, I don’t have to know you to know this: you and I are not above the fray regarding the content of this book. We are just as prone to have an unhealthy relationship with the social internet as are the people we lead. But this book isn’t written to address the ways social media has gripped all of us (that’s my other book Terms of Service). This book is written for Christians who have some measure of authority, Christians who lead people and effect change for the better in their local communities, churches, or homes. We will be working to answer the question, “Since social media is shaping the people I lead more than I am, what do I do about it?” What follows is a series of thirteen ways the social internet is shaping the people you lead, with advice to help everyone deal with it! Just keep in mind as you go that while it may seem like we’re pointing fingers at the people we lead, talking about how they are influenced and changed by the social internet, you and I are as vulnerable to the same pitfalls.
Our relationship with the social internet is profoundly changing us, often away from Christlikeness, not toward it. The stories I have heard from pastors, parents, and other Christian leaders are heartbreaking. Pastors are watching church members turn into different, unrecognizable people. Parents weep as their children slide into addiction and distress, and they watch their time with their children slowly slip away. We, as Christians with some measure of authority, must lead by exam- ple. Nothing in this book will help us untangle the hearts and minds of our loved ones from the binds of the social internet if we can’t also untangle ourselves. We must lead by example.
Leading people to follow Christ has never been an easy calling; countless stories from church history and the Scriptures themselves make this clear. Unlike what we read amid the construction of the Tower of Babel, God has not stopped the corrupted cooperation we witness on the social internet. Pastors, parents, and other Christian leaders today are trying to figure out how to lead the people they love to put down their hammers and chisels and abandon the selfish shrine of which they are so proud.
God is faithful. Second Peter 1:3 says that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. With much prayer and Christ-centered cooperation, we can push back the darkness of our modern Babel.
Thank you again, so much. For your support. For your kindness.
It means a lot.
-Chris
(Please order a copy of the book here if you would be willing to do so, and please rate or review it honestly once you finish. It would be helpful for me. Thank you.)
Will there be an Audible version of this book?